July 12th, 2010

Not content with the current crop of versatile-yet-unrefined Android phones, designer Andrew Kim imagines an elegant brass-and-glass enclosure that, among other things, transforms into a desk clock. His thinking is spot-on — surely there must be a market for an Android phone with iPhone-level looks and polish — and though his conceptual evolution of the Sense UI is a bit lacking, his overall effort is a thing of (fake) beauty. My only question is why he chose to anchor himself to an existing brand like HTC instead of letting his imagination really run wild… who needs cease-and-desist orders mucking with their wonderful creations? At any rate… HTC, the gauntlet has been thrown.

Update: Did I mention Kim is an 18-year-old freshman at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies? Damn.

June 29th, 2010

(Note: NSFW language)

This video, which I can only assume is making the rounds, beautifully encapsulates both the myopic allegiance of some iPhone users to their favorite device, and the unshakable belief among the tech geek set that simply listing another device’s set of superior-on-paper features constitutes an ironclad repudiation of the device in question. (Plus it’s just pleasantly weird in its execution, thanks to Xtra Normal.)

As I’ve pointed out before, for the average user, experience trumps features. “It’s better because it’s better” is a perfectly sound argument, and I believe it’s the primary reason most people buy the iPhone (or most things, really). Like the iPad, it’s an emotional purchase more than a rational one — it simply feels right to the people who love it — and Apple’s deep understanding of this type of purchasing behavior is what keeps them on top.

(Full disclosure: I own an Evo, and will probably also be buying an iPhone 4 before long.)